Kerala Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan in a press meeting on Wednesday revealed that around 94 of 100 Malayalis who joined ISIS from Kerala till 2019 were Muslims. Speaking on ISIS recruits, Vijayan revealed, “The government verified the facts. Of the 100 Malayalis who joined ISIS, 72 had gone abroad for professional purposes but got attracted to ISIS ideology and joined it. Only one out of the 72 was a Hindu while the others were from the Muslim community.”
“The other 28 had left Kerala specifically to join ISIS after being attracted to the ideology. Of the 28, only five were converted from other religions to Islam,” he said further.
In the same conference, the CM also called the “organized controversy” around “Love Jihad” and “Narcotics Jihad” baseless and slammed the Pala Bishop for ‘damaging the secular fabric of the state’.
Further, in a bid to reject the allegations leveled by the Bishop on ‘narcotics Jihad’, the CM cited government data on drugs to claim that there was no relation between drug trafficking and religion.
“In 2020 under the Narcotics Drugs and Psychotropic Substances Act (NDPS) 1985 Act, 4,941 cases were registered in Kerala. Of the 5,422 accused 2700 (49.80 per cent) were Hindus, 1869 (34.47 per cent) were Muslims and 853 (15.73 per cent) were Christians,” informed the CM.
Putting forth a poor argument, Vijayan further said, “The ratio does not suggest that drug trafficking is based on any particular religion. Also, no cases of religious conversion by forced drug use have been reported.”
What is the controversy?
Earlier this month, Bishop Mar Joseph Kallarangatt of the Pala diocese of the Syro-Malabar Church had stated that young Christian boys and girls of Kerala are being targeted for not just ‘Love Jihad’ but for ‘Narcotics Jihad’ too.
Going a step ahead, the Bishop added that there are specific groups operational in Kerala that are targeting non-Muslim youngsters and even providing assistance to carry out targeted exploitation of non-Muslim youth.
“Their aim is to destroy non-Muslim religions without fighting with weapons,” he had alleged further adding that Kerala has become a recruitment centre for terrorists, and such groups are trying to use the youngsters as their sleeper cells.
However, on Tuesday, Vijayan condemned the Bishop and said, “Those holding respected positions like him should have never used words like ‘Narcotic Jihad’. Our secular society didn’t support it. Nobody was willing to side with it barring a few with a vested interest.”
Syro-Malabar Church defends Bishop
On the other hand, the Syro-Malabar Church issued a statement calling the controversy unfortunate. Those who are consciously campaigning to isolate & attack him by accusing him of preaching religious rivalry are requested to withdraw from it. While context & motive of his speech are clear, we recognise that call for action against him is deliberate,” the Church said.
https://twitter.com/ANI/status/1440776906798817283?ref_src=twsrc%5EtfwClaiming that the intention was not to attack any particular community, the Church further said, “Such moves will only serve to destroy brotherhood & co-existence that exists in Kerala society… We are making clear that we will stand against this & will stand united with him (Pala Bishop).”